News

Area 4 Dressage Events 2017

16th July Manor Grange Stud Area 4 Dressage to Music and Pairs (non music test in a 20 x 40 arena and music in a 20 x 60 arena).

22 and 23 July Richmond Equestrian Centre Summer Show (which includes the summer dressage team event)

Winter Show (which includes the winter dressage team event) – Date and Venue to be confirmed.

If you become a member of the team the information that I will need from you is as follows:

Name of your Horse (exactly as it appears on your passport)

Mobile phone number and email address

Any winnings your horse has had with BD (if any)

A copy of your horses full flu vaccination history from your passport (see notes below)

Passport number

Teams and Tests

The first two competitions are Dressage to Music and Pairs and the Summer Show.

At the Dressage to Music and Pairs competition we ride the Dressage to Music tests as individuals rather than in teams of 4 (as we do at the summer and winter shows). For Music there are the following tests: Novice FSM, Elementary FSM, Pick a test Medium FSM or Advanced Medium FSM and Pairs Dressage FSM. All of which are in a 20 x 60 arena.

The pairs tests are (a) in a 20 x 40 arena and you plan the test in line with the permitted movements. It is designed as a novice level test. 80% of the test must be ridden in the pairing; (b) pairs music freestyle test in a 20 x 60 arena.

At the Summer Show we have teams of 4 people. The score is calculated by taking the top three scores from the riders in that team. Each team rides a mix of tests.

As well as the usual BD tests there is usually the opportunity to ride a “British Riding Club Riding Test” at the Summer Show. If you have made a New Year Resolution to work on your riding position you could use this tests as your goal!! The test is designed for any rider with the aim of improving the rider’s skills, particularly if you are new to dressage. In this test effectively it is the rider that is marked rather than the horse so it provides a fantastic opportunity for you to be judged on your position, the effectiveness of your aids and your influence on the horse. It is in a 20 x 40 arena and the tests are set out in the BRC rule book on pages 119 and 120. The judges score sheet is also shown on page 121.

It can be a long day at the Summer Show in particular because the tests are spread out across the day and the organisers need to accommodate hundreds of entries. Our club is part of Area 4 which is large hence the number of competitors. If you would like to know more about Area 4 see their website brcarea4.co.uk.

There are less entries at the Music competition because of the limited number of tests.

On the Day

I will be there on the day of the competitions all day to help out, offer moral support, shoulder to cry on, photographer, whip holder, I’ll chase you’re horse if they are not in front of your leg etc etc…☺

You can have a reader for your test if I can nab someone that is hanging around, but ideally you should learn it inside out before the competition!

Deadline for entries

All entries must be made by me to British Riding Clubs 21 days before the event. I must also send separate entries to Area 4 organisers.

Eligibility to compete and the BRC Rules:

The rules for determining your eligibility to compete are set out in the BRC rule book. This can be downloaded from the British Horse Society website in the British Riding Club area, here is the link:

Some of the key rules are listed below (but not all of them!). BRC Area 4 are extremely strict on these rules, the first one in particular. We have had team members arrive at a competition to be informed that they cannot compete. I will help you if you get stuck, eg checking you vaccs are right (and I check these before the comp anyway) to avoid this happening but you should read the eligibility section of the BRC rule book to ensure you are eligible to compete, (eg it is not just ensuring that your horse is vaccinated because there is a rule which states that you are ineligible to compete if your horse has been vaccinated in the 6 days prior to the competition).The key rules:

Your horse must be vaccinated against Equine Influenza

You must be a member of the club

You can only compete for one club (you can be a member of as many clubs as you like)

You must be over 18 years of age on 1st Jan 2017

Your hat must meet the standards set out on page 23 of the BRC Rulebook

•The number of BD points you have governs which tests you can ride and in some cases may make you ineligible (if you have too many) to ride particular tests. There are classes specifically for people with no or a limited number of BD points too so don’t read this and think that you’ll be riding alongside Charlotte Dujardin in the warm up if you don’t ride in affiliated competitions!!

There are also rules relating to the tack and equipment that you are permitted to use. These are on page 87 of the rule book. There have been changes made to rules this year, they have gone all out and permitted the use of diamante plaiting bands (not that I could ever get these over the fat plaits my pony has...)

Any questions about any of the above or anything else give me a shout!

Rachael Newth

Dressage Team Manager

Meet Dressage Team Manager - Rachael Newth

As some of you will know already I have taken over from Rebecca Starling as the Chef D’equipe for the Calderdale Saddle Club Dressage Team. I hope that I can do as good a job as Bex did.

For those of you that don’t know me, I am a dressage obsessive and it is all CSC’s fault. I bought my pony three years ago for hacking (having never had a horse before) and she turned out to be a napper (can’t wait to get to elementary so I can show the judge rein back because we have that totally nailed…). I ended up giving the hacking a miss for a while and found myself in an arena practising an intro B test for CSC’s winter dressage at Aireview Equestian.

So here I am, years later, working on lateral and longitudinal suppleness - words I never knew existed - and hoping that I can encourage others to give team dressage a go, move up a level or get people in our club to the BRC National Championships!

I have set out some info on the BRC events for you all in case you are new to the club or haven’t ridden in a team before (see above).

For those that are interested I will be arranging some test riding sessions before the events with Ashley Ward and Kath Pinington so watch out for those dates.

I have also had a lot of interest in the pairs dressage, I am planning some sessions to help you plan your tests and run through riding in your pairs for anyone that is interested. I will put these dates on Facebook and send an email. I was at the competition last year and the pairs class had a limited number of entries but they looked really good fun!!!

There will also be some other dressage training dates being released in the next week or so so keep an eye out for those.

Don’t forget our club winter dressage is underway and the next event is on Sunday February 19th at Aireview Equestrian Centre. The Schedule is on Horse Monkey and on our website. I’ll be there so come and say hi if we have not met before. We are also running sessions on the Mechanical Horse with Liana at Ravenroyd Equestrian.

If you have any questions drop me an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You can Facebook me but I work full time and although I do use Facebook I may not be able to respond immediately but I will come back to you.

I am looking forward to 2017!

Rachael Newth

Norland Show Report 2016

The 43rd Annual Calderdale Saddle Club Norland Show on 29th May 2016 was a great day for our club and our eighty plus competitors!

We were blessed with a sunny, calm day and the show field going was good and freshly mown. The excitement about the show had been rippling around Calderdale for over a week before the show - as the show secretary, club members and even judges had dealt with a whole host of questions from eager competitors preparing for their big day!

For the first time we decided to go for an online schedule and pre-entries via Horse Monkey. This proved to be a good move as we received a quarter of entries before the show and we also had a number of competitors who requested the schedule via email too.

At the show we had some outstanding horse and pony combinations in every ring.

Some of the highlights were the coloured horses both in-hand and ridden, the M&Ms large and small breeds and the young handlers. Equitation was very popular as were the Working hunter classes which kept Wendy, Irene and Cher extremely busy judging, raising and lowering fences, keeping scores and stewarding!

The show saw a lot of future talent particularly in the young handler class, lead rein and also in the novelty classes at lunchtime where we saw many dinky jockeys experiencing their first time in the show ring, ably assisted by their proud parents. We were so bowled over by our fancy dress competitors especially our family entry depicting the Wizard of Oz!!

It was also great to see some club members do themselves proud too - Ruth and Kath were both grinning from ear-to-ear after doing so well in the Condition, Sports horse and Veteran-plus classes.

There were other successes in equitation too. It was lovely to see Kath competing with Sovereign after running the show for the last few years and Beryl looking so good for Ruth.

Our show was lucky this year to be sponsored by some local business including:

Ring 1 - Countrysupplies.com and a special thank you to Sue Berry who donated very generous horsey prizes for all in-hand class winners.

Ring 1 was also sponsored by Woof n' Whinny our local dog walking and horse carer who is a great choice is you are looking for horse care whilst you are on holiday.

Ring 3 - was sponsored by Equestrian.com who also generously donated equestrian.com vouchers to the show. Equestrian.com also kindly promoted the show through their website.

Ring 4 - Andrew Walker Equestrian Services was our ring 4 sponsor. Andrew goes above and beyond the call of duty by setting up the Working Hunter Ring on Saturday afternoon and he also kept a watchful eye on the Ring throughout the show. awequestrian.co.uk

Our local vet's practice Hirds and Partners needs a special thank-you as they sponsored the show. This was a lovely gesture and a big thank you to Peter Schofield, Tim Booth and their team of vets for supporting the show and looking after all our accident prone horses! hirdandpartners.com

The show wouldn't be possible without a team of volunteers who helped enormously in the run up to the show (special thanks to Mags, Cher, Marilyn, Barry and Wendy) and those who helped set-up on Saturday and then those who gave up their Sunday to run the show - with terrific tannoy announcements galore, entries and administration, stewarding, running (and more running) and early morning car parking, judging and then hanging on finally to take down the show. We were very grateful to our new member Emma who brought along her niece and worked their socks off supporting the Working Hunter ring.

Just to give you a feel for the day - the first competitor trailer came into the field at 7.30am and we finished packing up at 5.30pm so next year we do definitely need more club helpers to spread the load better as we had to ask morning helpers to stay on to cover outstanding jobs (Many thanks Jan and Irene).

Finally a big thank you to our judges most of whom stepped in at a very late stage - we hope you enjoyed the day and thank you for your flexibility, positive approach and professionalism.

Helen Priestley

Norland Show Secretary

New BRC Hat Rules 2016

Reminder to all BRC members - new hat ruleFrom 1 January 2016, ALL hats must be checked and tagged with a new ORANGE BRC hat tag. All hats which only meet the standard EN1384 or BSEN1384, and do not comply with another standard from the approved table, WILL NOT be accepted and therefore will not be permitted for any BRC competition. Hats which bear EN1384 or BSEN1384 along with another standard from the approved table, will be tagged.

For example, BSEN1384 & PAS015 (1998 or 2011) along with the Kitemark, would be acceptable, but not BSEN1384 on its own.

Dressage, Flatwork and Polework Clinics

We've got lots of lessons going on this spring to help members prepare for he forthcoming competition season.

Discounts are available for members and payment will be required in advance of all lessons.

Contact Jan Wheelock on 07710 829540 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Show Jumping Lessons Richard Barton

Cher has organised further clinics with Richard Barton in 2018. Latest dates are:

13th January 2018

These will again be held at Richard's Yard in Wilsden. Richard will teach at all levels from poles to top of the wings and we have had some very good feedback from club members and friends who have had lessons with Richard before. The lessons will be £20 or £30 for non-members.

Please contact Cher Cartwright for more information or to book a placeThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Book onoine at Horse Monkey

British Riding Club Rules

Calderdale Saddle Club is affiliated to British Riding Clubs and as such we adhere to the rules in their rule book. The rule book is extensive and can be found on the British Riding Clubs website. Following are the codes of conduct which we ask anyone attending our events to be familiar with and conform to.